Tag: Income Projections

In this article Laura Weir discusses an error that can occur by averaging multiple sources of statistical data in an attempt to obtain an overall average that is superior in quality to the individual averages.

This article concerns sexual abuse cases and the difficult task of determining the impact that the harm has had on the plaintiff’s earning capacity. Christopher Bruce and his colleague from the University of Calgary, Daniel Gordon, found that, on average, sexual abuse is not associated with lower educational levels or lower adult incomes among victims.

In the article Derek Aldridge discusses the potential usefulness of Statistics Canada’s HALS/PALS disability statistics when attempting to estimate a person’s loss of income. His opinion is that while one can use these data sets to predict a loss of income, in most cases these predictions are not helpful for our purposes.

In this article Christopher Bruce explains how experts deal with situations in which there is uncertainty about the plaintiff’s future income path – such as when it is not known whether the plaintiff will recover from his or her injuries. He also comments on an error that experts often make when dealing with such uncertainty.

In this article we investigate an issue we have not seen raised anywhere else in the literature on personal injury damages: When an individual is injured in their 30s or early 40s, and has to retrain for a new career, will that individual begin in that career at a salary equivalent to those of individuals with the same age as the plaintiff? Or will the plaintiff’s starting salary be more similar to those of younger individuals in the new career – perhaps 25-29 year-olds? The authors present information from a recent study that investigated this question; and comment on the use of this study for personal injury cases.

When a minor has suffered a serious injury, it is necessary to predict what the income level of the plaintiff would have been in the absence of that injury. In most cases, this is done by projecting an education level for the plaintiff and using census statistics to project the average income for that education level. This article examines some of the factors that can be used to predict a child’s eventual educational attainment.

Christopher Bruce summarises the most recent theoretical and empirical evidence concerning one of the most controversial, and poorly-understood, components of the calculation of future earnings – the so-called “productivity factor.” He notes that, although the observed rate of increase in earnings is tied to the rate of increase in labour productivity over the very long run, in shorter periods the two rates may differ if there is a significant increase or decrease in the supply of labour. Specifically, he reports that most economists now believe that the slow down in “real” wage growth (the rate of growth in excess of the rate of inflation) in the 1980s and 1990s occurred because of the increase in labour supply that came with the influx of “baby boomers.” That the baby boom is now working its way through the system implies, therefore, that the rate of growth of real wages will increase significantly in the next two decades.

In this article Mohamed Amery discusses cases involving plaintiffs who are minors, in which it is necessary to predict the level of education that these individuals would have obtained had they not been injured. Mr. Amery’s article provides information concerning indicators that can be used to make this prediction – including the education of the plaintiff’s parents; the level of the plaintiff’s employment while in high school; and whether the plaintiff ever failed a grade.

In this article Christopher Bruce examines the theory and evidence behind the assertion that wage growth among workers in a specific industry can be linked to the productivity growth of those workers. He finds that there are sound theoretical reasons for predicting that there will be very little correlation between an industry’s productivity growth and its wage growth. He also finds that the empirical evidence supports this prediction.

In this article, Christopher Bruce notes that it is often not clear at the time of trial what occupation the plaintiff would have entered had he or she not been injured, or what occupation he/she will now enter. In these cases, it is common for the vocational expert to offer a menu of possible occupations that are consistent with the plaintiff’s observed interests and aptitudes. In his article, Dr. Bruce looks at how one could combine these occupations (and the corresponding incomes) in order to determine an average, expected income for the plaintiff.

In this article, Derek Aldridge explains how the MacCabe judgment is important from the economist’s view. What does the judgment imply about future cases involving injured or deceased females? There are many questions unanswered.

In this article Kris Aksomitis discusses the method used to adjust average income figures derived from the Census from past dollars to today’s dollars. He compares average incomes taken from the 1996 Census with adjusted figures from the 1991 Census to illustrate the accuracy of these adjustments.

In this article Nicole MacPherson investigates the effect of alcoholism on earning capacity. She has found that alcoholism has both direct and indirect effects on earnings. Ms. MacPherson brings to our attention both the obvious and overlooked effects of alcoholism.

In this article, Therese Brown notes various factors which may enhance or impede the socio-economic progress of the children of immigrants. Considerable evidence suggests that the positive effects associated with foreign parentage overwhelm all other factors. For that reason, the children of immigrants tend to exhibit higher potential earnings than do their counterparts with native-born parents.

In this article, Therese Brown reviews a study on the economic and employment prospects of the disabled. The panel data relied on for this study suggest that the impact of disability on income may not be as severe as has been suggested by most previous sources of information.

In this article, Scott Beesley outlines various factors which complicate the assessment of the loss of income for self-employed individuals. After clearly laying out the potential pitfalls in these cases, he reviews a number of approaches which might be employed to maximise the accuracy of these estimates.

In this article Christopher Bruce deals with the current issue of appropriate compensation for the “lost years” of a plaintiff with reduced life expectancy. One of the approaches discussed includes the view that the plaintiff should be compensated for the lost earnings which remain after the cost of necessities is deducted. Further clarification is required on this issue to establish an estimated cost for “necessities.”